Other parts (case, keyboard, mouse, display, floppy, etc) will be scavenged from the old machine.

This I can build for 540 euros or so.

I could drop below the 500 barrier by going AMD and/or single core, but since one of the things he does with his PC is realtime encoding of his guitar, I'm thinking the second core won't be unwelcome. And it'll give the PC at least a year or two more before the next update is necessary...

Since this is my first Intel build ever, what do you all think?

PS: Sticking with the onboard audio for now, but maybe I'll fix him up with a proper creative product later on to give him MIDI connectivity.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA 965GM-S2 iG965mATX motherboard with Intel G965 chipset, integrated graphics which will be more than enough for his needs and it also offers a PCI-Express slot in case you want to get a faster card in the future. Good onboard audio and decent GbLAN (not some Realtek-crap) and it also has firewire.http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=484508